I’m working on a medieval undercroft/wine cellar room for the Asset Pack section. I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit so far, and I think it’s time to start sharing my progress.
Here’s the rendered scene first:
Here it is in ‘solid’ view.
And here are a couple of my furniture pieces.
Obviously still a work in progress, but I always appreciate feedback. Thanks for taking the time to look 
edit: forgot to mention the textures for the wood planks and stone bricks are from textures.com
Hi Tyger2. Great work I like it. Do you have a problem with light? Try to instal filmic in blender, if you dont have. The light looks more realistic then.
Thanks! Can you be more specific? I may have a problem with the light that I’m unaware of. This scene just has two point lights and environment light with light portals coming from the window and the opening at the top of the stairs.
Here’s a render with just the environment and portal lights:
It seems pretty dim to me, but I thought it was just because the window was small. Could be something else though, I don’t know. 
I will write you when i will come from work. And i will send you a link for download and one link for video where is describe how light bounce.
Hi, sorry, I dont have time before. So here is the link for download: https://github.com/sobotka/filmic-blender
A watch this. You will find everything here. I prefer the video.
Filip
Hey thanks for this! Really good video. Here are some before and after renders with filmic installed.
Without filmic, using only Environment light and light portals:
With filmic, same lights, but Environment light power turned up:
I will still do some tweaking to get it just right, but it made a big difference straight away.
I have a comment about your composition (feeling) of the last image.
Your goal is to achieve a cellar look-and-feel. Emphasized by the cellar entrance, with ascending stairs with a bright daylight. But you have also a window with the same bright light. Loosing the atmosphere of being in a cellar.
It would improve the scene to use a candle or a torch on that location.
And maybe lower the camera to the height of a viewer. To enhance the feeling of standing inside the cellar.
Don’t give up, I like your project !
Yeah I totally agree it needs to be dark.The point of the last image was just to show the difference using the filmic color transform. I don’t think I will have any light coming down the stairs in the final product, as I’ve envisioned the stairs leading from another interior room rather than an outside entrance.
I hadn’t thought about how the camera placement affects the feel, but that’s a good point. I was just trying to find a vantage point to see everything from.
Thanks for the feedback!
I think the picture looks better with filmic. Because if I image the atmospher I think you can see what is inside in room, not like in picture with basic RGB render. Try to play with contrast setting in color management if you want to make room more darkness. Give me a result 
Progress Update
I’ve done a bit of a redo since my last post, as I wasn’t happy with the overall composition of the scene, and didn’t really feel like a had a clear direction of where it was going. I redid most of the room using the concepts we learned, and only kept the barrels, tables, and benches. Here’s how it looks now:
I’m much happier with how it’s going now, and I feel I can see a reasonable endpoint approaching. The scene is much simpler, as I’ve removed all the unnecessary models, yet I think it is much more interesting as a composition.
I really appreciate the feedback and encouragement you guys have given me so far. Thanks! Still a work in progress, but what do you think about the changes?
I love your progress update!
I can see you are capable of letting loose “Kill your darlings”. Meaning sometimes you get stuck because you want to keep a specific item (solution) which you like very much. But it stands in the way of other progress. And “Less is more” sometimes.
I like the light spot on the table! It focus attention. At first I thought it was light coming from the ceiling. Which is plausible, because it is a cellar. But then no hole in the roof, so now I am missing a candle, chandelier.
Keep going, you made progress !!! 
Hey thanks!
Yeah it’s a sort of disembodied light at the moment, but I will add either some chandeliers or candles later.
Finished product
It’s not perfect, and I still have some things I’d change, but i think it’s at the 80/20 point.
So what do you guys think? Criticism welcome. I’ll withhold my own critique so as not to influence yours. Thanks to everyone for your input!
I really liked it. If I have to do some changes will be, the floor is to even, the light at the side (the one is hidden) little more yellow like the chandeliers, and try to differentiate more the wood of the tables/seats from the barrels.
Anyway, like that is great! and I want just to not criticize in a bad way.
Awesome job, I’m still far away from do things like you did.
What a great improvement !
The shadows on the floor are a bit harsh (sharp). Would expect more fuzzyness, due to the candles.
Maybe introducing some randomness in the model layout. Tables and benches are perfectly arranged in a straight line. Slight tweaking on the z-ax, makes it more lifely. Also the barrels random rotation on the x-ax / y-as (planks are now always vertical)
Two thumbs up! 
This is really well done and looks great. That said, a few suggestions to consider
Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it. The lighting is definitely something I want to learn more about and improve.
@Pablo_R you’re right about the wood textures. It’s actually the same texture for all three! 
@FedPete do you know a way to make the shadows edges fuzzier? I seem to remember Michael talking about it in one of the lectures but I forget. And some randomness would make the scene look more real, I agree. Visually, I find the orderliness pleasing, but I think I know what you mean.
@Capricas_Kirito There are windows in the alcoves on the right hand side with an all white environment light outside and light portals. The lights were something I really struggled with. Trying to make it dark enough to be moody, yet light enough to see and get some good reflections on the wood textures. I like your idea of making the barrels look worn in the middle! That kind of detail could really make a scene look good. I’m not sure if I’m quite there yet, though …
Thanks again everyone for taking the time to comment in such a constructive way!
A lamp has also a size option. You can increase that, but probably you need to decrease the light intensity.
It looks awesome!!! Especially the part with the candles. Love it.
You ask for hints for improvement:
I would work on the textures, resize them, that they look smaller.
Edges: I would bevel them with a bevel modifier.
And I would add some fine details to the architecture, especially in the alcoven area and the columns.
I finally decided to go back and touch up this scene! I incorporated some of your feedback from the first time around, and fixed some things that always bugged me. Check it out!
Original for comparison:
Updated version:
Most of the work was with the textures. I changed most of them over to principled bsdf shaders (Did those not exist in 2.7*? I don’t remember), adjusted UVs, etc. Hope you guys like it! As always, feedback is welcome.
